


Control

by Geek_and_Nina



Series: Hizzie [3]
Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff, F/F, I stole a couple plot points from this one episode of Chuck I watched when I was younger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24527464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geek_and_Nina/pseuds/Geek_and_Nina
Summary: Hope is taken. Lizzie is upset. Josie tries to help...
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Lizzie Saltzman
Series: Hizzie [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709398
Comments: 1
Kudos: 57





	Control

“Josie… it _really_ looked like she was proposing though. She was on one knee, there was a _ring_ and those EYES. Josie, her _eyes_.” Lizzie stomped across the floor of the bedroom she and Hope usually shared, her twin sister perched on the edge of the bed, practically buzzing with excitement.

“Had you not just been saying that you needed to take things slowly? I can’t tell if you’re mad that Hope didn’t propose or if you’re mad because you wanted her to … and you don’t want to want her to.” Josie thought out loud, watching her sister’s reaction to what she said to confirm the truth of her words. The twins could read one another well enough that it was near impossible to hide anything anymore.

“ _If_ it had been a real proposal, those would have to be a conversation at least. You know how I don’t like surprises.” Lizzie scoffed.

“You love her.” Josie retorted her phrasing a statement, not a question. Josie was truly confident in that and how the two women had changed and grown since meeting one another… or at least since they had figured out they didn’t _actually_ hate one another.

“Yes, I love her but…”

“No, ‘buts’, Lizzie. You love her and you hate change. That is all that is happening here.” Josie rolled her eyes. “Before you go doing or changing anything you will unequivocally regret, take a breath, and consider your next steps. The two of you are good together. I have every faith you will figure it out.” Josie promised, her slight smile turning into more of a smirk.

\-----//////-----

“You know, that I wasn’t uhm… you know that wasn’t a proposal, right?” Hope asked awkwardly, awkwardly pulling up her pants’ legs and strapping her knife to her calf. Lizzie only temporarily forgot how to speak at the sight. She pulled her red hair back into a high and tight ponytail. Hope was purposefully keeping her eyes trained on what she was doing as she waited for Lizzie’s response.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Lizzie bit the inside of her cheek and sat down hard behind her desk. “I’m going to come along with you, in case you need backup. Josie and the rest of the SuperSquad are on a welcome wagon mission and will be gone for the remainder of the day. It’s been a minute since Team Hizzie went out together.”

“Was it that hard to believe how I would propose to you? That I would want to?” Hope asked, turning back to Lizzie, her eyes earnest and adoring.

“Of course, I understand that you would want one day to… but are we ready? Couldn’t we talk first? I’m only just settling into my new position here as headmaster. I love you, Hope but not right now.” Lizzie spoke breathlessly, afraid that what she was saying would hurt Hope’s feelings, disappoint her, or even anger her.

“I have no idea where that ring had come from, but it wasn’t mine… I know your taste better than that anyway. Plus, I know you need to talk through these things. If I know you, Lizzie Saltzman, you would want to be surprised, but to see the surprise coming.

Hope spoke with an affectionate smile, love, and adoration in her eyes. If anyone had ever told a young Hope that she would be talking about _marrying_ Elizabeth Saltzman and that the blonde would be somewhat responsive to it, she would have laughed her ass off. She held her hand out and pulled Lizzie in tightly.

“I am proud of us! We talked through our feelings like real grown-ups for once.” Hope chuckled darkly, reflecting on some of their worst miscommunications.

“Go us!” Lizzie agreed and high-fived her. She caught Hope’s hand and held it before leaning into the shorter girl and kissing her gently.

“We’re growing up, my love.” Hope wound an arm around Lizzie’s waist as they walked.

\-----//////-----

“What do you _mean_ Hope is missing?!” Lizzie asked her face red and brows furrowed angrily. Panic flooded her system at all the possibilities of who might have taken her and why. She couldn’t bear the idea of anything happening to her girlfriend.

“Lizzie, this is Hope we’re talking about. She can handle anything thrown at her. Hope is the most badass person in the world. Have some faith in her, Lizzie. You should know this.” Josie leveled her sister with a gaze she hoped would calm her.

“She should never have to go through anything ever again, much less ‘handle’ anything. Hope has had to go through too much as it is. Nothing is ever going to be okay again until she’s _here_ and with _me_.” Lizzie snapped back and stomped out of the room so furiously MG had to throw himself bodily out of the way.

When Josie and MG finally caught up, Lizzie was back in their apartment and shoving her clothes into a bag. She was muttering plans to herself, about how to find Hope, how to save her, and how to enact revenge upon those who had taken Hope from her.

“Keep a cool head, Lizzie. If you run off half-cocked you definitely will not be able to save Hope at all. You won’t do her any good. We need you to be our Lizzie, the Lizzie that Hope first fell in love with.” MG paused her frantic movements by grabbing her hands gently.

“You are never going to be alone. It’s a part of having me as a twin sister. I’m there for you whenever you need me. Now, if you would take some time, and maybe even the night, to let the two of us pack and get all of our heads on straight we’ll join you.

\-----//////----

Lizzie panted with effort and the sheer force of will it took to control the magic emanating from the stone she had clenched in her hand.

“You never quite explained what that thing is, Lizzie and from this angle, it looks like it’s hurting you,” MG said in a concerned tone, though to Lizzie he sounded far away, as though at the other end of a tunnel.

“Not the time!” she called and began to chant as she emptied one of the stockpiled vials of Hope’s blood over a small globe.

“That is the Phoenix Stone. Lizzie went rogue and ‘liberated’ it from our father’s collection. It belongs to someone they fought back in the day. I never really understood that story. Whoever originally had it, they captured vampire souls in it, so it would probably be best for you to never _ever_ touch it.” Josie murmured to him as she continued to nervously watch her sister work. “That stone likely holds enough power that we could siphon from it for months without stopping.”

“Should I stop her?” MG asked hesitantly, glancing between the twins for advice or help of some kind.

“I don’t think you would be able to if you tried.” Josie scoffed, her expression was stubbornly faithful. She laid a hand on MG’s arm to hold him at her side until Lizzie finished her casting. Finally, she exhaled a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

Josie rushed to her sister’s side and held open a drawstring bag for the Phoenix Stone to be dropped into. She tucked it into her pocket after Lizzie reluctantly dropped the stone in. The power called to her. Josie could distantly feel it as well, though her magic was still hidden safely away. She swallowed roughly, the familiar fear pervading the back of her mind.

“Are you alright, Lizzie?” MG asked, using vamp speed to catch up to them.

“I know where Hope is being kept now so I am certainly better than I was.” Lizzie didn’t offer either of them a smile or any other form of reassurance. Her expression was still one of stone-like determination. “When I get her back and I have truly wrecked everyone who has ever even thought of harming her I will be better still.”

MG gathered all of their belongings in another sudden burst of speed and caught up again as Lizzie charged ahead recklessly. Josie scrambled after them, bother, left somewhat flabbergasted in her wake.

\----/////----

“Well, you didn’t have to blow _everything_ up, Lizzie. Hope wasn’t even in there. Is that how you want to be?” Josie asked, judgment in her tone, though she could see how torn Lizzie was still yet. MG had just finished setting up their campsite, and they were beginning to settle in for the night.

“Don’t you want to still be the girl Hope wants to marry when you come out of this?” Josie asked, realized what she had said, and slapped her hand over her mouth.

“What do you mean by that?” Lizzie spun around and stared her sister down furiously, eyes red-rimmed and bruised. The shock was plain on her face, and it seemed as though she had completely ceased to breathe, or even remember how to breathe. “Was- was Hope going to propose to me? Josie! Was Hope. Going. To. Propose?!”

Lizzie began to gasp for breath as MG dropped everything he was doing to join them.

“You weren’t supposed to know. I’m so sorry. She loves you, Liz, and she’s been thinking about it for a while. Ever since she accidentally proposed that time. There’s this whole plan she had made up…”

“Josie! Stop talking!” MG hissed through his closed teeth. “You really _aren’t_ helping to calm her down.”

“Where is the plan? Tell me about the plan. Everything that you know, I need to know.” Lizzie demanded and Josie immediately figured out everything she had been missed noticing in her sister’s face… desperation.

“She’s been prepping it for a few weeks now. I don’t think that what I know is the version she’s going with for now. Hope has been keeping all of her notes on her person.” Josie pulled a sheet of paper out of her back pocket. It had scarcely cleared her jeans before Lizzie snatched the paper out of her hand.

“Oh… _Hope_.” Lizzie sat down hard as she read her way down the list of bullet points. One hand gently held the paper, her hands trembling softly. Her fingers lightly covered her lips as she read.

Lizzie reread the list a few times before folding the sheet along the same lines it had been and passed it back to Josie. “She can’t ever know I saw this. If you tell her I will destroy you and everything you stand for.” Lizzie said in a low growl, channeling Hope’s wolf side subconsciously.

“Oooookay, cool. Got ya.” Josie said, her eyebrows drawn in nervousness and alarm. “We _are_ going to get her back, you know. You are going to get all of those things, Lizzie, and you are going to have them all with Hope.”

Josie grabbed her sleeping bag and dragged it closer to her sister’s and zipped them together as MG went back to building the small fire to keep the two witches warm throughout the night.

“We haven’t done this in _years_.” Lizzie was startled into laughter by the action and slid quickly into the sleeping bags happily. She hadn’t felt this much hope in a while.

“If there was ever a time, it’s now.” Josie sighed, sliding in beside her sister and cuddling up to her, wrapping an arm around her middle and holding her tight. She pretended not to notice how Lizzie pulled one of Hope’s hoodies out of her pillowcase and tucked it beneath her face.

\-----/////-----

Lizzie had managed to slip out during the night without being noticed. She had at least a three-hour head start. Josie and MG only had to follow the absolute trail of destruction to find Lizzie.

“There is a woman in here somewhere… and she loves me… she wants to MARRY me. She hasn’t had a chance to ask me yet, though, because you people _TOOK_ her from me.” Lizzie’s voice echoed, magically enhanced, down a hallway as MG and Josie followed the sound, which was quickly followed up by a solid thump and a small explosion. Josie only hoped her sister didn’t cross a line she wouldn’t be able to come back from.

“Have some faith in her, Jo.” MG echoed the earlier sentiment.

“I have plenty of faith in her when she’s being herself. This isn’t our Lizzie. This is Lizzie without Hope to balance her. A whole different animal.” Josie said in a soft tone concern, and warning in her voice as the person who had known Lizzie longest and best. “We don’t honestly know what she’s capable of right now.”

Instead of a response to Josie’s words, MG said “I smell smoke.” in a comparable warning tone and broke into a full sprint.

“Oh shit,” Josie swore under her breath and began to run faster as well, unsure of what she would even be able to do if she were to catch up to her sister promptly.

Within the five minutes it took to get to her, there were seven or eight sleeping guards on the ground… Lizzie standing over Hope with her hair floating around her, and electric blue energy crackling up and down her arms. The fury faded from her eyes as she took in the sight of her girlfriend chained in ten different ways to the floor; bound and gagged. MG rushed to pull the chains off of her but found they withstood even his strength. Lizzie gestured to where they anchored to the wall, spoke a word in archaic Latin and the metal fell into small, cloudy piles of dust around Hope.

Josie and Lizzie helped Hope up to her feet, then supported her as she collapsed into Lizzie’s waiting arms, barely standing and not yet fully conscious. The hardness of heart Lizzie had been wearing like armor since Hope had gone missing fell away as she brought one hand up into her girlfriend’s hair, holding her closer.

“Hi, Hope. It’s me. I’ve got you now. I need you to wake up for me, baby.” Lizzie stroked Hope’s hair out of her face and ran her thumbs across her cheeks over and over. “I need you to get up so I can take you home, baby.” Lizzie encouraged the beaten down and exhausted woman. Hope blinked blearily, plainly still weak, red marks sore and swollen around her wrists and ankles.

“Company’s coming. Hope, if you can’t run, I can carry you, but we are still going to _have_ to go. We have to go _right now_.” MG said at the door poking his head down the hall, his voice urgent.

“I’ll be fine,” Hope responded, her voice groggy and raspy from overuse and allowed MG to take some of her weight. Before heading off, she grasped the front of Lizzie’s shirt and pulled her in roughly for a quick kiss. “Okay, now we can go,” she said on an exhale and willed her weary body to carry her away.

Lizzie ran right behind her, unwilling to let Hope out of her sight just yet. Josie was at her side, expression wafting between concern and relief. She was ready to help however she could or support anyone who might need her.

Hope began to stumble as they passed the entryway and in two smooth motions Lizzie kept her from pitching backward and helped to keep her on her feet as MG swept her up into his arms. Magical energy still pulsed through Lizzie’s muscles, the Phoenix Stone clenched in her grip. The fire remained when the magic was siphoned, but Lizzie had grown oddly used to the feeling, grown to enjoy the feeling, and allowed it to fuel her as she ran. It took a good long while for them to feel safe enough to stop, and took a couple of hours of walking after the rest to get back to their camp.

Hope was sweaty and exhausted, barely responsive when MG deemed them safe enough to lay down for the night. Lizzie was curled around Hope as she slept, Josie was asleep in the van in case they needed to peel off in a hurry. Lizzie still held the Phoenix Stone in her hand, in case she needed to cast a defensive spell on the spot. Nothing and no one was going to touch Hope again while she was looking out.

\-----/////-----

It took a good while for Hope to get back up to 100%, but just as soon as she was, it seemed as though she had something to prove. MG and Josie grew tired rather quickly of having to chase Hope and Lizzie down. Life at the Salvatore School never seemed to calm down and it only seemed to grow more intense now that the four of them were considered faculty. Missions came in fast and thick and more challenging, not to mention when that had to teach the hordes of supernatural children in their care. Hope was the only one who seemed to be honestly enjoying herself. 

“Hope, couldn’t you _please_ at least ,em>attempt to tame this wild mane of yours before you charge headlong into battle? These knots are truly insane.” Lizzie sat behind her girlfriend with a brush and a comb as Hope soaked her bruised, strained, and aching muscles in the bathtub.

“There isn’t always time, Lizzie. I don’t control when the bad guy’s attack. I do my best when I get the chance. Besides, this feeling is too nice to go without for too long.” Hope tipped her head back to get a better look at Lizzie, she reached up with both hands to lace them across the back of Lizzie’s neck to pull her down for a spiderman upside-down kiss.

“You make all of this hell I go through every week worth it, you know that, right?” Hope asked, still holding Lizzie’s face close to her own, their noses brushing.

“I make everything worth it. Everything ever.” Lizzie laughed quietly, and kissed Hope again, despite the uncomfortable angle, because kissing Hope also made everything in their crazy lives worth it. “It’s what I do best.”

Hope laughed quietly as they continued to slowly melt into one another and the water.

\-----/////-----

“You are all trying to get up to something without me knowing. I demand to know what’s happening. I _hate_ surprises.” Lizzie had cornered her twin sister and her best friend in the headmaster’s office. She perched on the edge of her desk staring them down.

“This is a good surprise, Lizzie. Just lean into it for once in your life. You’ll be happy, I promise.” MG rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Josie. Is this what I think it is?” Lizzie focused on her sister, knowing she would be able to read her expressions more accurately and figure out what was happening.

“...No?” Josie tried to lie, quite poorly. 

“Okay, the three of us are going to make sure that this proposal goes off without a single hitch, do you understand me?” Lizzie demanded, figuring out everything she needed to know from her sister’s expression. “ Tell me. Now.”

She sat down and listened patiently as she could, even taking a few notes as she went. There were a few annotations that could be subtly put into Hope’s head if need be.

“I do love how we have been talking this through with Hope so she can make this proposal… only for you to find out and try to take the whole thing over… to make it perfect for _Hope_ instead. You want the same things. Can’t you just let it happen?” MG groaned, massaging his face, plainly exasperated with the couple.

“Anything else you may find out, any changes that have to be made, problems that occur on the fly… I want to know immediately. We clear?” Lizzie asked, though as she spoke her serious expression fell away and a bright smile began to breakthrough. “I have been dreaming about this… pretty much forever. It’ll be great.”

“I have every confidence.”Josie snickered. “And it will all be despite your efforts, not because of them. The two of you can’t help but get in your way. It’s kind of cute and annoying.”

“Text or call me if you hear _anythin_.” Lizzie warned them in a semi-threatening tone. Her excitement was shining through despite herself.

Hope caught up to her, shining slightly with sweat after teaching a small hand to hand combat class with an older group of the more advanced vampires in the school.

“You always come out of those sessions looking like you had the _most_ fun. I’m pretty sure I used to leave classes looking like I had pulled my hair out.” Lizzie laughed and nudged her girlfriend playfully as their steps locked and synchronized.

“It's the best part of my workday every day… besides the fact, I get to work with you. Listen, I have a surprise for you after work. I am going to get clean and go set it up. I’ll come and pick you up after. Wear something you like and feel nice in…. But be sure you can move around in it easily.” Hope’s voice and eyes were flirty as she leaned in for a quick kiss to Lizzie’s cheek. This wasn’t enough for the tall blonde, and she caught Hope by the arm for a real kiss.

“Alright, I’ll see you later. Don’t leave me in suspense for too long.” Lizzie’s eyes were soft, affectionate, and expectant. “Text me when you are on your way up.”

Lizzie did a short happy dance, jumping up and down for a moment before regaining her composure. She ran up the stairs to her apartment to do a quick clean up. Lizzie rummaged through various drawers and her closet looking for something picture-worthy but still flexible enough for her ‘surprise’! She called Josie as she hanged her clothes. Lizzie had chosen a short pale blue dress.

“Hope must have moved up her timeline. She has just said that she is going to take me out for a surprise. Get me an update as soon as you can.” Lizzie said in a tone that was more of an order than a request.

“She’s on the phone with MG right now. I will tell you everything we know as soon as we know it. Just give us sometime… or you could enjoy the surprise.” Josie sounded irritated by being caught in the middle. “I’ll call you. I want to make sure I don’t miss anything you might want to know.”

Josie hung up on her and Lizzie wasn’t sure whether she believed the other girl or not. She was annoyed but too happy and excited to let that affect her. With another look at herself in the mirror and giving herself an up and down, approvingly. On another whim, Lizzie took a seat on the foot of the bed to wait for Hope and began to write.

Lizzie had never been the best at verbalizing her feelings, especially directly to Hope herself. She didn’t want there to ever be another moment where she regretted having not told her girlfriend something to her face. Now with all of her love simmering at the surface of her being, Lizzie poured out her soul onto the page. She had just about finished when she heard Hope’s knock on the bedroom door, as though the tribrid didn’t also live there.

She wore a long soft blue sweater, a nice pair of pants; and boots both stylish, and useful for traipsing about outdoors. Hope’s smile was bashful and excited and nervous. Lizzie was reminded of when the older girl had asked her out for the first time. The experience had been incredibly awkward in the most fun and adorable way. Lizzie was expecting something similar in the next few hours. She didn't like that she hadn’t gotten another update from her sister and MG, but was confident that she and her girlfriend would both do whatever was necessary for this night to be perfect.

“Are you ready?” Hope asked as Lizzie tucked the piece of paper out of sight in her pocket and tried to remember how to speak.

“I’m always ready, Hope. You know that. Especially when it comes to you.” Lizzie leaned in to kiss the corner of Hope’s mouth teasingly. She looped her arm through Hope’s and let the smaller woman start to lead the way.

For once the pair made it out of the Salvatore School without being stopped by students, a teacher, or some kind of emergency. Hope shot Lizzie a brilliant, silent smile, grabbed her hand, and dragged her into a jog towards the Old Mill…. Laughing all the while as Lizzie tripped over herself, again and again, to keep up.

As they arrived, Hope began to walk backward and took each of Lizzie’s hands in her own. The blonde’s jaw hung open as Hope led her back. Soft music played as Lizzie began to realize none of this was according to the plan she had gotten out of her sister and best friend. Annoyance tickled the back of Lizzie’s mind until her eyes finally tore away from Hope’s.

Christmas lights hung up along all of the rafters and along the walls, a rug covered the wooden floor, and a table with a beautifully cooked dinner was set up against the wall. Candles were lit on every surface in the entire structure leaving the Old Mill in a warm glow as the sun began to set behind them. Lizzie couldn’t tell where the music was coming, but she was pretty sure it was magical. It was becoming quite clear that Hope had put a lot of hard work and thought into the set. The Old Mill had never looked so nice.

“This is… not what I was expecting. It’s _beautiful_ , Hope. I love all of it.” Lizzie said on a soft exhale.

“By not what you were expecting you mean, not the answers you managed to bully out of Josie and MG? Do you think I don’t know you well enough to plan for that? Come on, Lizzie.” Hope scoffed and stopped pulling Lizzie once they were on the makeshift dance floor. She moved her arms up to around Lizzie's neck and pulled her in for a short kiss.

“Would you care to dance?” Hope asked, taking one of Lizzie’s hands on her own and standing up on her tiptoes to twirl her girlfriend. “There’s food, I set the couch up with a projector and a slideshow. We can start wherever you would like. The Mill is your oyster.”

“This is amazing, Hope. It’s all so...perfect. I couldn’t imagine how much work all of this took. Thank you so much, my love.” Lizzie combed her fingers through hope’s hair and kissed the back of the hand she still held. “You know that I will always want to dance with you, no matter where we are, music or not.”

Hope held Lizzie close with another bright smile and tucked her head beneath Lizzie’s chin; enjoying the soft music, the feel of Lizzie held tight against her, and the warmth of the crackling fire nearby. The playlist was a nice mix of each girl’s favorite music. Lizzie hadn’t been this relaxed and happy in a long time. Her heartfelt warm.

Hope pulled away at the end of the song when they got tired, got them both a plate and a glass of wine, and led Lizzie to the couch where a projector clicked through photos of Lizzie and Hope. They were shown together and separately; photos from their childhoods, them with their friends during their school years, and many more from various dates during their relationship. Hope was surprised to find them both tearing up a bit. They found themselves distracted by the memories, talking and laughing, and reminiscing.

“What do you think Klaus would say about all of this if he were here?” Lizzie asked with her head in Hope’s lap watching the photos click by as Hope played with her hair.

“I would hope he would be happy for me, and I bet he would have liked you a lot. You have a few similarities so you would either get along well or hate each other’s guts. It would be kind of hilarious to see.” Hope chuckled. “My mom on the other hand… she would have loved you immediately, on sight.”

“Your mom has always sounded like one of the coolest women in history. I was always too much of an angsty teen to have ever asked you about her. We should just have dinner one night and you tell me all of the stories… if you would be comfortable with that.” Lizzie turned over onto her back to look up into Hope's face.

“That would be nice. It’s good to know we will have the rest of our lives to learn all of one another’s stories back to front.” Hope reached back to where her jacket was draped over the end of the couch. “I was waiting for the perfect moment, but truly couldn’t choose one. So…”

Hope wrestled the box out of her jacket pocket and opened it, setting the soft velvet on Lizzie’s chest.

“Elizabeth Jenna Saltman… would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Hope asked, her voice small and vulnerable, a hesitant smile pulling at her lips. Lizzie had never felt like she could love any more than she already did until that moment. She felt that love for Hope saturating her, ever square inch of her body. The love-filled her chest until it ached and felt as though the feeling would burst out of her.

Lizzie scrambled up until she was sitting in Hope’s lap pulling the ring from the box, at a loss for words as her heart pounded in her ears. “Is this…?” she started to ask.

“This is the ring my step-father Jackson gave to my mother. I don’t remember him, but I know that he loved my mom and that he loved me. That’s all I ever needed to know about him and I hope you will always know that about me as well. No matter what happens and no matter how the world changes around us, no matter what, forever and always… will you marry me?” Hope asked again. She slid the ring onto a thin finger.

“Yes, yes, of course, yes. Hell yes!” Lizzie replied, glancing between Hope and the sparkling diamond on her hand. She tackled Hope onto the couch again and kissed her quickly and repeatedly, unable to contain her excitement any longer.

“We’re going to get married. You’re going to be my wife.” Hope spoke softly as she attempted to catch her breath.

“Hope Saltzman? Lizzie Mikaelson?” Lizzie began to test the various combinations of names out loud as Hope began to laugh uproariously. Neither woman had ever been so happy in their life.


End file.
